My report was too hot to broadcast: Brisbane war correspondent (Michael Ware)

[kpete]

Source: BRISBANE TIMES

My report was too hot to broadcast: Brisbane war correspondent

Brisbane war correspondent Michael Ware is set to reveal that an alleged war crime he filmed in Iraq has never been seen or investigated by authorities.

Mr Ware, who covered the Afghanistan war from 2001 and the Iraq war from 2003 for Time magazine and the US television network CNN from 2006, returned to Brisbane in December suffering post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

His harrowing near-decade of war coverages were documented last Monday in the first of a two-part ABC Australian Story series, with the second part to be broadcast tomorrow night.

Mr Ware tells of the alleged incident he says he witnessed and filmed in 2007 when working for US news giant CNN, but claims the network decided the footage was too graphic to go to air.



Read more: http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/my-report-was-too-hot-to-broadcast-brisbane-war-correspondent-20100918-15gwf.html?from=brisbanetimes_sb

[ensho]

1. he did a great job and I believe what he says - wishing him well

nt

[kpete]

3. please everyone share MORE:

Mr Ware tells of the alleged incident he says he witnessed and filmed in 2007 when working for US news giant CNN, but claims the network decided the footage was too graphic to go to air.

He alleges that a teenager in a remote Iraqi village run by the militant Islamist group, al-Qaeda was carrying a weapon to protect himself.

‘‘(The boy) approached the house we were in and the (US) soldiers who were watching our backs, one of them put a bullet right in the back of his head. Unfortunately it didn't kill him,’’ he tells Australian Story.

‘‘We all spent the next 20 minutes listening to his tortured breath as he died.

[alfredo]

5. Did the soldiers feel him a threat to the journalist? I will

have to see the video. If the boy had the gun slung over his shoulder, an investigation should be commenced. If he was sneaking up on the journalist, then they had every right to open fire.

[bjobotts]

27. Ware would have understood all of that but still deemed it a war crime os forget about your inferenc

[alfredo]

35. I do believe his account, I just don't want to believe he

was killed for sport.

[liberation]

38. Well, we invaded that kid's country for sport basically...

[alfredo]

44. True. The one's who ordered the invasion should be

prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

I see that some Marines have been charged with killing for sport in Afghanistan. I don't have a link but it was on the Herald Leader's e edition.

[elias7]

42. He deemed it a "small war crime", but that's not what was traumatic about it

I think he was horrified by the fact that he did nothing to help the dying boy.

[dipsydoodle]

2. I miss his honest reporting

.

[lunatica]

4. I hope he heals

He's done a great service and I think he'll continue to do it only now it'll probably be by telling us about the even darker side of war. Witnessing war breaks people's spirits as much as committing atrocities does.

Wars can be abolished if humanity wants to do it bad enough. Only a handful of psychopaths create them. The fodder just follow blindly thinking war is normal. People have to wake up to the fact that it isn't necessary to be shocked with every story that comes out about atrocities and death and destruction in wars. It happens in every single war. Every one.

[alfredo]

6. PTSD is a tough disorder to heal. It isn't always a single

incident, it is multi layered, maybe spanning decades. He could have been suffering PTSD even before entering his profession. For me, it is difficult to pinpoint the cause. Chances are, I was PTSD even before the military. I've been described as the poster boy of PTSD. Because of the inability of pinpointing the exact time I went over the edge, healing is difficult. That's why I haven't pushed the VA on this. They have been treating it, even though we have no real proof of the military being liable.

In Ware's case, I'd be surprised if he wasn't PTSD. If he can manage his fear and rage, good for him. From my experience I can say that it might take the rest of his life, peeling away the layers of pain before he can say he is healed.

[lunatica]

7. I wish you healing too

This is something I feel very strongly about. I truly despise war and believe it is not normal for humanity. If it were you and other soldiers would return in the best shape ever, not wounded so deeply that your best hope is to manage your traumas.

I really believe if we worked at creating peace as hard as we do at creating war we could have it. If leaders want war let them go to war personally. I know their tune would change quickly.

I hope you heal.

[alfredo]

11. I'm doing fine, I have good tools and the minimum unobtrusive

medications. Even my GP keeps tabs on my emotional state.

[Citizen Worker]

26. Timeless wisdom Lunatica, timeless. Sadly, for the people of the worlld our elected leaders won't

heed it.

[JDPriestly]

10. True, and I assure you that the children on the ground in war zones,

whether Britain or Germany in WWII or today's Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia or Iraq are suffering trauma that will make them vulnerable for PTSD at some point in their lives.

Still, Ware's issue is at what point does a person become an accomplice to violence or crime. If you know your boss is cheating on his taxes or your employer is polluting the environment, do you have a duty to blow the whistle or stop the crimes? The more responsible your position, the more confidential the information to which you are privy, the more troubling these questions are to you? Where is morality? What responsibility do we have to protect others, to insure that justice is done?

My heart and prayers go to all who become conscious enough to face these dilemmas.

[alfredo]

12. Just the deprivation of war can traumatize. Learning of the

death of a parent can traumatize. Soldiers not in battle, but at times come under incredible situations like becoming aware that they have become accomplices to a crime, can cause that disassociation. They shut down because they can't deal with the reality.


Military service can become a prison in the mind of the soldier. He/she realized they are trapped and they can't handle it and become traumatized. Sometimes the little cruelties can make your mind walk away. How an individual handles a specific situation varies.

Ware's dilemma only makes his condition worse. It keeps dredging up the traumas he has endured.

[JDPriestly]

14. The problem, according to a therapist friend of mine, is that PTSD

comes from the parts of the brain that are quite primitive -- those that control the fright and flight mechanism. You almost need a physical therapy to deal with PTSD, calming techniques that involve basic breathing and muscle release. Exercises that center the suffering person. It is not just a matter of thoughts but rather of reflexes. So, learning to deal with those reflexes is the challenge.

It just so happens that I was speaking with my friend yesterday about her work helping PTSD victims.

[alfredo]

20. The battleground is the most extreme example of PTSD

Sometimes it comes quietly through a realization that you are powerless to change your situation.

An example: you are at a small outpost, lightly armed, untrained for combat, and an alert is called. During a time of increased rebel action you are told that a force of 3,000 are heading your way. So in the middle of the night you climb up to the roof of your compound. You are sitting behind an M60 machine gun. You have only one box of ammo. Your squad mate has never touched an M60 and doesn't know how to feed the ammo. So you sit there staring out in the dark, looking down on the front gate knowing that you are going to die. After an hour or so they tell you to stand down. Once down you are told it was just a test. They had to call the MP's to restore order.

After that there were increased acts of sabotage, alcoholism, desertion, and suicide attempts. A general air of distrust for the chain of command prevailed. I became angry, got into a lot of fights, drank to excess, and smoked copious amounts of hash. I got relieved of duty twice, the last one I was put on permanent CQ. If I had longer to serve I would have had my clearance yanked and reassigned to a combat unit in Nam. That's how they handled "discipline" problems in MI (military intelligence). They used the Nam threat to keep us in line. We knew that being sent to combat without training is as close as it comes to a death penalty.

[JDPriestly]

33. What horror! Words cannot express . . . . It's just beyond comprehension.

[alfredo]

34. It makes a "man" outta ya. Then breaks you.

[nadinbrzezinski]

22. PTSD is hard to break

as to the origin of war, given that now we have observed war making among chimps, other high order primates and dolphins... I am not that convinced that it is just a few that want them.

We are part of nature, not out of it. And in the bush... well before it became so damn destructive, it might have an adaptive goal. This includes the exploitation of resources and genetic exchange.

Just an FYI... and imho if this is "natural," it became quite mal adaptive, but that makes war a little more complex than just sociopaths wanting it.

[valerief]

8. The whole war was/is a crime. nt

[femrap]

17. War is a racket. nt

[Mnpaul]

No one would air the footage from the Swedish guy either

It is in the special features of F9/11

[Mnpaul]

9. No one would air the footage from the Swedish guy either

It is in the special features of F9/11

[sam sarrha]

13. the worst War criminal still goes free.. the one who started the illegal War for Profit.... Dubya

[Techn0Girl]

31. I'm curious - If you (as I do) believe this was id unjust and illegal ....

Then do you also believe that any President after Bush who continues the was to also be a criminal?

[Enthusiast]

40. Him and The Dick Cheney.

Not investigating events leading up to the Iraq War damaged Obama's credibility right from the outset.

[defendandprotect]

15. Guess would have been too specifically connected to him to give to Wikileaks???

[OhioChick]

16. I wish him the best

His reporting was always very emotional and honest.

[DesertFlower]

18. i always enjoyed his reporting.

hope he gets well soon.

[KoKo]

19. I imagine he saw other terrible things but this one incident was the one

that caused him to feel the pain of asking: Why didn't I do something?

It's amazing that more of these war atrocities aren't being exposed...but our media is so controlled along with access to reporting that those in the war zones are compromised. Same corporates in Media and MIC are the ones that surpress the news. If you have a desire to try to report something because it's what you are called to do...you now have little freedom.

I wish Michael Ware well. I hope one day he feels comfortable enough and distance enough to expose more...if we can ever get the truth out there as to what was done to our soldiers and the innocents in countries we invade.

Part of his problem may be how confined he is in telling everything...and perhaps obsessing over this one incident helps him deal with the mind blowing enormity of the other cruelties he saw.

I'm just speculating...but the little that has gotten out of what went on in Iraq was horrific enough that many of us here couldn't bear to see photos or dwell on it. We, who to this day, feel responsible for not being able to stop the Iraq Invasion. Even though so many of us did what we could. We tried to get our churches involved...we marched before the invasion we phones our Congresspersons and there was even an attempt by Move On. org. to deliver petitions to the United Nations to stop the invasion. All efforts failed. Including Robert Byrd and Teddy Kennedy who debated for days on the Senate Floor against the Invasion.

[xchrom]

21. Recommend

[lxlxlxl]

23. jesus...ptsd will just be used to shut him up and marginalize him

if he was more outspoken than he already was he would be a problem

[lxlxlxl]

24. some video here (liveleak)

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=599_1284474263

just started watching ... multiple parts

[KoKo]

28. Might be some of what you say at work here..but..we need to take him at his word...

until more comes out about this. That "ABC Nework" pounced on this...says much about what may be "afoot" to marginalize him. Have any of us seen great reporting about our American Imperialism coming from ABC INVESTIGATIONS before THIS?

Maybe I missed it. I don't watch much TV...but do try to read the blogs as to what all our Media is doing in reporting on Iraq/Afghanistan..throughout the years.. Just saying. :shrug:

[obxhead]

30. If I remember correctly

He decided to take time off from CNN for his PTSD and CNN fired him for taking that time off. He saw a lot of horrid shit and I believe he is easily a candidate for PTSD.

[Jefferson23]

25. Just about the only good guy CNN had working for them, kudos Ware. n/t

[obxhead]

29. CNN report news? Never. Can't have any of that. nt

[applegrove]

32. I miss him. He is a great reporter.

[myrna minx]

36. K&R n/t

:cry:

[RandomThoughts]

37. He was doing something by taking the picture.

Although it is a good question. It goes to how far you think in the future about what is best.

By taking the picture, and speaking about it now, his actions may help even more, then just helping that child. Although that same logic requires thoughts on what the future will be, that leads to ends justifying means mistakes.

It is a question on when detachment in the moment can be caused by thoughts of better results.

Maybe he talks about it now, so that the greater good he was thinking of in that moment will not be in vain.






On a side note, was it because it was graphic, or because it did not fit a narrative, that it was pulled from CNN?

[liberation]

39. 9/11 was pretty graphic, as well as the hanging of Saddam. Yet US media had no trouble running them

on heavy rotation 24/7 for example.

You can draw your own conclusions regarding the reasons for CNN's self censorship in this regard.

[fasttense]

41. Corporate censorship at it's best.

We all got to see Saddam hang. The Corporate media let us all see that. But we never get to see the truth. Thanks for the censorship TIME-WARNER TBS and AOL (donated 1.6 million to GW's 2000 campaign).

We the People and the federal government no longer own the airwaves, (or cable waves) our corporate masters do.

[wildbilln864]

43. kick! nt

[Heywood J]

45. Am I the only one who picked up on this?

(The boy) approached the house we were in and the (US) soldiers who were watching our backs, one of them put a bullet right in the back of his head.

He was approaching backwards? Generally, the only way people get shot in the back of the head are running away and execution. This makes me suspicious of what the actual circumstances were.